


Bad Signal

by strangeallure



Series: Halloween Short Fic Challenge (2020) [1]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: 31 Days Of Halloween, Gen, Halloween, Inspired by a Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:21:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26761282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangeallure/pseuds/strangeallure
Summary: „Do you think this connection might be haunted?”
Relationships: Michael Burnham & Sylvia Tilly
Series: Halloween Short Fic Challenge (2020) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952713
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	Bad Signal

**Author's Note:**

> This October, I'm trying to write a short fic (ideally around 500 words) every day. I'm using a list of best horror movies as my inspiration, but the connection will typically be quite loose. You'll find the day's film in the end notes.
> 
> Happy Halloween! 🎃

„Do you think this connection might be haunted?” Tilly rubbed at the side of her nose, her features crisp but her hair getting blurry around the edges where the projection was blending into the background of Discovery’s lab.

“Tilly,” Michael shot her a stern look, although she doubted it would work any better across five lightyears than it did face-to-face, “this is a work call.”

Tilly rolled her eyes. “Come on, Michael. Stamets’s signal went dead, what, five minutes ago? And even when we still had contact with Reno, she was constantly cutting in and out. You have to admit that’s a little creepy.”

What she said was true. Her inference, however, was ridiculous.

“Plus, the data that arrived here,” Tilly briefly looked down at her workstation on the Excelsior, “seems to have been compromised.” She put a table of gibberish text up on the screen. “Doesn’t that look like an ancient cursed manuscript?” There was definitely more excitement than fear in her voice.

Michael sighed. “You said it yourself,” she enunciated each word carefully, “the data’s been compromised. Maybe an electrical storm or a systems malfunction. Which might also explain the lost connection.”

Something seemed to zig-zag across the holo projection and for a moment the letters next to Tilly glowed eerily green. Since her friend didn’t remark upon it, Michael assumed it was a technical issue on her side. Too many holo calls at once, straining Discovery’s visual array.

“But Stamets and Reno are on different planets,” Tilly pointed out. “What kind of malfunction would affect them both?”

Despite herself, Michael felt a cold prickle travel across her scalp. That was a little peculiar, yes.

 _No._ She couldn’t let Tilly get into her head, not with such ridiculous notions.

“Stop this nonsense.” Michael ‘s voice came out garbled, an almost metallic reverb to it. Her stomach dropped and an icy pain shot down her spine.

“Now your signal’s starting to cut out, too,” Tilly said, clearly oblivious to the fact that it wasn’t the signal that was cutting out.

The eerie glow around the text besides Tilly seemed to dissolve into the whole projection, like a drop of paint in water, tinting everything sickly green.

“Tilly.” Relief washed over Michael when her friend’s name came out normal. She relaxed a little. There had to be an explanation. “There’s something—“

The next words from her lips turned into a screech that seemed to stab straight into Michael’s own ear. The taste of metal in her mouth. A cold, wet sensation on her hand. _Within_ her hand. Michael looked down.

Her arm - it wasn’t there anymore.

And then it was. 

And then it wasn’t.

She was flickering, fading. Not just her hand or her arm. Her whole body; her whole self.

The sweet, heavy smell of overripe fruit flooded her nostrils, made her dizzy. Something like a nail started scratching down her neck, cool and sharp and deliberate.

Michael screamed, but all she could hear was bouts of static cutting in and out.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by "Host" (2020), a very good 56-minute feature about a haunted Zoom call.


End file.
